Two More Facebook Advertisers Say No To Beacon

Now, it's not just Coca-Cola who is holding off on using Facebook's Beacon. Travelocity and Overstock have also reportedly decided to sit on the sidelines (MediaPost via paidcontent).

Meanwhile, after applauding Facebook for acknowledging user complaints and changing Beacon, commentators are starting to notice that the system still isn't "opt-in" (or even permanently opt-out). Why it isn't is no mystery: The vast majority of Facebook users would never use it, making it difficult for Facebook to support its assertion that Beacon et al are the most important media and advertising developments in the past hundred years.

But making Beacon fully opt-in is still the right decision, even if only a handful of users participate in the new service. Until Beacon, Facebook had built an asset that many companies never do: A service that users liked so much that they promoted it to all of their friends. The company's attitude toward Beacon is rapidly undermining this...
---JUMP---

Facebook is still in an enviable position. It has plenty of money and
plenty of time. Even if it never comes close to justifying the $15
billion valuation Microsoft gave it, the company can still build an
extraordinarily valuable service that users and customers love.
Limiting users' options and/or forcing them to use features they don't
like is not the quickest route to this end game.

So it's no wonder that, in the face of ongoing brand-damaging
stubbornness, Facebook observers are beginning to call for CEO Mark
Zuckerberg's head.